Joey Chestnut is the 2007 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Champion!

It just happened a few minutes ago. Joey Chestnut wins the Mustard Yellow Belt, ending the winning streak of Kobayashi.

You can see how it came down on the live blog I was following:
AOL Sports

Or the blog I was following last year (and should have followed this year):
Gothamist

Apparently, it was pretty close. Chestnut took the early lead, but Kobayashi made up a lot of ground. Both went to surpass the current Nathan's record of 53.5 hot dogs. In the end, Chestnut won by half a dog. Also, Kobayashi appeared to have vomited, which is a disqualification if it leaves the mouth. Oh man, that's the ugly side of competitive eating...

Nathan's July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest

Get ready folks! The big hot dog eating event is only weeks away. This year's 4th of July hot dog eating contest promises to be the most interesting. This is because Joey Chestnut (on the left in photo) seems posed to overthrow the legendary Kobayashi (on the right in photo) as winner of the Mustard Yellow belt.

Chestnut recently broke a world hot dog eating record during a qualifying event (that Kobayashi did not participate in) on the road to Nathan's, eating 59.5 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes. Kobayashi held the previous record of 53.75 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes.

Las Vegas odds favor Chestnut as the winner. At last check, Takeru Kobayashi had even odds of 1 to 1, while Joey Chestnut only pays back 4 to 5. These odds were posted in early June, but may change because of breaking news...

Kobayashi appears to be suffering from a competitive injury! Apparently he has been afflicted with arthritis of the jaw from training. More details can be found here. Can this be true? Or is Kobayashi playing mind games with Chestnut? Apparently, this injury causes great pain when Kobayashi opens his mouth and can only open his mouth wide enough to fit two fingers into it. Despite this, the champ still plans to attend the Nathan's Fourth of July event. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Competing along side these two front runners will be Theyagarjan, the 7'8" tall champion hot dog eater from India. While he is not expected to win, he is one of the tallest competitive eaters in the world, and is a wild card of sorts. Nobody expected Kobayashi to take the IFOCE world by storm when he first competed at Nathan's so many years ago. The big event is only a week away, and will prove to be one of the most interesting competitions to date. Stay tuned for more details!

Where have all the hot dogs gone?

If you haven't gone to Frank'z, then you missed the boat. Frank'z proudly claimed to be home to "the world's finest hot dogs". After the success of Hero Burger, I began to wonder if someone could make a hot dog that was worth almost twice the standard street meat price.

My girlfriend and I went in and ordered a mushroom and cheese hotdog and a cheese and chili dog. There were a variety of sauces and toppings available to us. We ordered a beer to wash it all down. It was delicious and fattening!

While it goes without saying that the Frank'z dog was superior to street meat, we questioned if the experience was worth the extra twoonie. Our verdict was a resounding no. While it was an interesting thing to try out, we have never returned to Frank'z since the fateful evening.

As the weeks and months passed, I would walk by Frank'z on my way to the highly-recommended Salad King, wondering how long Frank'z would last surrounded by frugal university students and selective Torontonian shoppers. Like a circling vulture, I discovered that Frank'z had finally closed down this month. It was a gutsy enterprise, but unfortunately, it just wasn't meant to be.

I am not Bobby Lee!

I once had to emphasize that I was not Ice Cube. Well, on a recent trip to New York, I was in Times Square when a very excited woman ran up to me. She was carrying shopping bags in one hand, and pulling a young kid in the other. She began to shout: "Oh my god! You're that guy from MadTV, aren't you?!"

I responded with a shocked expression, very much like the one in this photo of Bobby Lee from MadTV. Before I could respond, my girlfriend jumped in and firmly stated that I was not Bobby Lee, and that I was her boyfriend.

The woman became defensive, assuming that my girlfriend had interpreted her conversation as some kind of bizarre pick-up line, and innocently pointed out that she was a 40 year old woman with a young child and there was no reason to be jealous. The woman quickly walked away, slightly embarrassed.